My sister, myself
by MattheJ1
Summary: "You know, Elsa, sometimes I wish I could stand in your shoes - even for just one day."
1. Chapter 1

My sister, myself

 **Chapter one**

 **Upon a star**

Anna stepped delicately onto the roof, holding the lift platform steady as it naturally swung against her weight. She grabbed the same spot she had grabbed a hundred times before, and soon she was on steady footing.

Climbing cautiously, she made her way up the roof, stepping only on stones she knew were solid. Soon, the steep slope flattened out, and she was on all but level ground. She laid down on her familiar spot and stared up at the stars, breathing in the night air.

You wouldn't expect the roof of a castle to be a good place to relax, but something about it just put her at ease. With the obvious exception of her sister's little palace, this was the tallest building in the kingdom. Up here, you could see every star in the sky. One time, Anna had tried to count them all, but she had quickly lost count and fallen asleep. It didn't really matter, anyway. It wasn't about how many there were, what mattered was that they were there.

Sometimes the stars felt so close she could almost touch them, and tonight was one of those nights. The sky was totally clear, and absolutely nothing stood between her and the sky. She was alone up here. Totally alone.

"So this is where you always sneak off to."

Mostly alone.

Anna sat up, turning towards the soft voice of her sister. Elsa stood there on the roof, the elevation accentuating her imposing height. A set of icy stairs, newly formed, melted away by her feet.

Anna chuckled, lying back down. "How'd you find me here, Elsa?"

Elsa smiled. "Come on, Anna. You aren't exactly the hardest person to follow."

She sat down next to Anna. She looked at her. "Is that comfortable, lying down on stone?"

Anna shrugged. "You get used to it."

Elsa leaned back, forming a tiny snowbank to serve as a pillow. She looked up to the stars as well.

Anna looked over at her. "So, how's the view?" she asked.

Elsa looked out at the town below them. "Not bad," she said.

Anna smirked. "Not that view, silly!" she said, tilting her sister's head upward. "This one."

Elsa stared straight up, eyes wide. "Wow," she said, not a trace of sarcasm in her voice. "That's magical."

Anna smiled. The sight of her sister in such awe was incredibly beautiful. "I would think the view from your palace is even better," she said.

Elsa laughed. "I've never stopped to look at it," she confessed.

"Maybe you should," Anna said. "This is where I come when I get too stressed and need to relax."

Elsa looked at her, a smile on her face. "You? Stressed?"

Anna elbowed her good-naturedly. "It happens," she said.

"When?"

She turned to Elsa. "From time to time."

Elsa chuckled again. "What do you have to be stressed about?"

Anna didn't reply.

Elsa stood up again. "You're Anna, the most beautiful princess in the world. You live in the prettiest kingdom in the world, and you hang out with the nicest guy in the world. You've got a perfect life."

Anna smiled. She stuck a hand out straight in front of her, and Elsa grabbed it, helping lift her to her feet.

"What about you, huh?" Anna returned, trying to pretend to get huffy even though she was grinning from ear to ear. "You're even better off than me. You're the most beautiful QUEEN in the world. You've got all that stuff I have, and, oh, I don't know, you can control ice! That sounds pretty cool to me."

For the first time, Elsa's grin faltered. "The ice isn't always a good thing, you know," she said, turning away.

Anna, realizing she had touched a nerve, immediately dialed back. "I know, I didn't mean to…Sorry, Elsa," she said, reaching for Elsa's arm.

Elsa turned back towards her, smiling again. "Don't worry about it," she said warmly. "Usually, it is a good thing, but…you know."

Anna nodded, although she wasn't totally sure she understood. Of course, she remembered when Elsa had almost frozen the kingdom, but she sensed there was more to it than that. Something that had happened in the past – maybe the same thing that had made Elsa turn away from her all those years ago. But Elsa never talked about it, and Anna wasn't going to pressure her.

Anna sighed, looking up into the sky. "You know, sis, sometimes I wish I could stand in your shoes – even for just a day. See what it's like being you."

It was kind of a weird thing to say, but Elsa nodded understandingly.

"I know what you mean," she said, gazing up at the sky as well. "I've wondered what it would be like to be you – to not have these powers, to have someone like Kristoff. To be…normal."

There was silence. Anna knew that what Elsa said had been very private. She felt sorry for her sister, but she could not fully say why.

Elsa looked at her. "I think it's past our bedtimes."

"Right," Anna said, heading towards the spot she had climbed up. "See you in the morning, Elsa," she said.

"See you," said Elsa, moving towards her stairs.

"Oh, and Elsa?" Anna called. "There is something else you have that I don't."

"What's that?"

"A perfect sister."

A snowball hit her in the back.

xxxxxxx

The clock chimed eight. Outside the window, a family of bluebirds chirped.

Elsa opened her eyes. The sunlight streaming through the window made her shut them immediately, and she opened them a crack, waiting for them to adjust to the light of the day.

Already, memories of her previous night's dreams were rapidly fleeing her. There had been something about her and Anna in a field of flowers, maybe?

She smiled at the half-memories she still had. Olaf had been there, and he had been playing a cello, which had looked pretty funny, since the bow was longer than his…

Something stopped her train of thought immediately. As her eyes opened wider, she realized that she was not in her bedroom. The bedsheets, the walls – pretty much everything in the room was pink.

 _This is Anna's room._

Now she was wide awake and nervous. She could have sworn she had gone to bed in her own room, and now here she was in Anna's. That night they had was supposed to be a one-time thing, and they were never even going to speak of-

 _Wait a minute._

Something else was off. Anna wasn't anywhere in here, and she never woke up before Elsa. Plus, she felt…different. It took her a moment to figure out the change she was feeling.

 _Warm. I feel warm._

Fearfully, she held her hand up in front of her face and tried to fire some ice from it. Nothing.

This was definitely not good. Waking up in a different room entirely, without her powers? What was going on?

Then she looked at the hand she was holding up. It looked very, very different. Her skin was pink, not pale.

And it was covered with freckles.

A mental picture was starting to form in Elsa's mind, and it wasn't good.

 _No. That's impossible. There is no way-_

And then she saw something that unnerved her even more.

There was a lock of hair hanging down right in front of her eyes. Red hair.

 _Oh my god._

Quickly, Elsa scrambled to her feet, hurrying across the room to the desk with a mirror in the corner. She looked into the mirror.

Anna's face looked back at her.

Elsa recoiled from the mirror, bringing her hands to her mouth.

 _Oh my god._

She grabbed her own arm and pinched it. This had to be some sort of dream. A hallucination, anything.

She felt the pain of her grip, and yet the face in the mirror remained Anna's.

Elsa felt the world around her start spinning. She gripped the back of a chair for support, her knuckles turning white as she struggled to stay upright.

 _What's happening to me?_


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two**

 **Exposed**

 _Anna._

It was this thought that snapped her out of her fit. She ran to the door, almost flinging it open before thinking better of it.

Instead, she opened the door just a crack, peeking out at the hallway beyond. Mercifully, it was empty. Looking at the clock again, Elsa realized that she was probably the only one awake in this wing.

She ran into the hall and to her own door, hammering it with her fist.

"Anna! Wake up, Anna!" she shouted, Anna's voice coming from her throat. No response came from within.

Briefly, she considered how bizarre this scene might look to a passing observer.

She pounded on the door again. "Get up, Anna! This is important!"

Still no response.

 _It's not locked,_ she remembered. _I never lock it anymore._

Elsa flung the door open, at least having the presence of mind to close it behind her.

The sight of herself – or at least her own body – lying there in bed, asleep, was incredibly unsettling. Elsa pushed these feelings aside, striding towards the bed.

She grabbed her own sleeping body by the shoulders, shaking it gently but firmly. "You need to get up right now, Anna!" she said.

As her eyes began to open, a new thought occurred to Elsa.

 _If that actually is Anna in there, this is going to look really disturbing._

Before she could do anything about it, Anna's eyes focused on her face. Then, they widened.

With a yelp, Anna sat bolt upright, scurrying backwards on the bed. She clutched at the sheets, and tendrils of ice began to spread from where her fingers touched.

Elsa, knowing better than to try and get closer, stood there, arms raised nonthreateningly. "Don't worry, Anna," she said softly. "I'm here for you."

Anna stared at her, seeming to recognize the soothing tone in her voice. "Elsa?" she said, voice shaky. "Is that…you?"

Elsa nodded.

Anna looked at her pale hands, putting two and two together. "Then I'm…did we…we're…" She trailed off, unable to find the right words.

Elsa nodded. "I don't know how, but we've switched bodies."

For a moment, Anna was silent. Then she said the one word that Elsa hadn't been expecting.

"Cool!"

She climbed out of the bed, turning to face Elsa with a huge grin on her face. She pointed her hands at the ceiling, and fountains of ice streamed from her fingertips, swirling and cascading all around the room. Anna stared upwards, spellbound by her own creations. "Wow," she said, eyes wide.

"Stop that," said Elsa, a little annoyed. "This is serious."

"But it's so awesome!" Anna said, flinging more ice around the room.

She stopped when she saw the look on her sister's face.

"Okay, maybe you're right," she said.

Elsa's look of frustration turned into concern. "How do you feel?" she asked.

"Fine…I think," Anna said. "How about you?"

"I'm all right. Does anything feel weird?"

Anna thought. "I feel kind of cold, but it's not uncomfortable."

"Okay, that's good," Elsa said.

"What do you think we should do about this?" Anna asked.

Elsa thought for a minute. "Grand Pabbie," she said suddenly. "Maybe he can explain why this happened to us."

"Good thinking," Anna said. "I'll ask Kristoff if he can take us there."

"Hold up a second," Elsa said. "First you need to fix this room."

"Why, what's wrong with…" Then Anna looked around.

All the ice she had created wasn't melting, which meant that a bunch of streams of ice were crisscrossed all over.

A dreadful thought crept into Elsa's mind. "Anna, do you have full control over those powers?"

Anna looked at her, confused. "Of course. Who else would?"

"I mean, did you do all of this intentionally? Every last drop?"

"Yeah, I did," said Anna.

"Are you sure?" Elsa said forcefully.

"Of course," Anna said defensively. "What are you so worried about?"

 _Oh, if only you knew,_ Elsa thought. "Okay, then," she said out loud. "Make it melt."

"Fine, I will," Anna replied. She closed her eyes and focused.

 _Okay, love and good feelings make it thaw, right?_

Taking a deep breath, she envisioned a mental image of her and Elsa enjoying a picnic together. The air was cool, the smells of nature all around them were lovely, and the two of them were having a great time.

Warmth infused her body, and she heard a rushing noise, like a strong gust of wind. When she opened her eyes, she saw that the room was completely free of ice.

She turned to Elsa, smiling. "See? Totally under control. I melted all the ice."

"Yes…yes you did," Elsa said, blushing heavily. Anna looked at her, confused.

Then she remembered that Elsa's dress – the one she had been wearing – was also made of ice.

She looked down at her now exposed body, her face reddening. Frantically, she ran back over to the bed, covering herself with one of the sheets.

Elsa turned towards the closet. She rummaged through it for a while before pulling out a dress, which she promptly threw to Anna before turning the other way. The dress was identical to the one Anna had been wearing, but a closer examination revealed that it was made of cotton, rather than ice.

"I had that made for emergencies," Elsa said, still facing the wall.

"Good call." Anna quickly slipped the dress on. "You can look now," she said.

 _Then again,_ she thought as Elsa turned around, _it's not like you haven't seen any of that before, right? It is your body. I guess maybe I was the one who should have been looking away?_

 _Man, this is so confusing._

"Okay, let's go find Kristoff," Elsa said, heading for the door.

"Right," said Anna, following right behind her.

They headed out to the hallway, neither one saying anything.

After a few steps, Anna spoke up. "Geez, Elsa, don't you ever wear any-"

"Also ice," Elsa preempted.

"Right."

xxxxxxx

Kristoff crouched over the front of the sled, rubbing a polishing cloth across the surface. Behind him, Olaf sat, staring into space.

"So does his sleigh need all eight reindeer to pull it?" he asked.

"Probably," Kristoff replied. "It's a big sled, and it has a lot of presents in it."

Olaf scratched his head. "But why doesn't he just make eight sleighs and use one reindeer on each one?"

"Who's going to drive the other seven?"

"You said he had elves. If he has eight sleighs, that would mean he could deliver the presents eight times faster." Olaf pointed out. "So why doesn't he just do that?"

Kristoff shrugged. "I don't know, go ask him yourself."

"Ooh, can we?" Olaf said excitedly.

Kristoff laughed. "No, Olaf, we can't actually go and ask him."

"Well, why not?" he asked innocently.

Kristoff looked up from the sleigh. "Because…" He saw Elsa and Anna walking towards them. "Because we have to see what the girls want first," he said quickly.

Olaf seemed to accept this explanation. "Okay, but then can we go and ask him after?"

"Sure, Olaf," Kristoff said, all but certain that this entire conversation would have completely slipped from Olaf's mind by them.

He took a step towards the advancing girls. "Morning, guys," he said cheerfully. "What's going on?"

Anna strode right up to him. "We need to go see Grand Pabbie, right now," she said authoritatively.

"Or…as soon as we can, you know?" Elsa said, trailing behind. She sounded almost apologetic.

"Now," Anna insisted.

"Okay, okay," Kristoff said, hands raised. "What's the matter, is something wrong? Are both of you guys okay?"

Elsa walked up to him. "We aren't hurt, Kristoff, but it's still pretty urgent. Can you just get us there as fast as you can?"

Kristoff rarely heard Elsa speak so hesitantly, especially to him.

"Of course," he said. "I'll fetch Sven, we can go right away."

"Great," Elsa said. "Thanks, sweetie." Then she kissed him on the cheek.

It was hard to say which of the three was more shocked by this action.

Elsa drew back, thoroughly embarrassed, and looked apologetically to Anna, who shot her a withering glare. For a few seconds, there was silence.

"Okay," Kristoff said after a while, clapping his hands together. "I'm just going to pretend that didn't happen. Sound good?"

"Yes," both sisters said at once.

"Great. I'll go get Sven." He hurried off, leaving the girls to glare at each other.

 _Women._


End file.
